Five Interpretations of the Lorax, including his modern role as a marketing consultant. Related. It’s interesting how the SUV, that explicitly militarised mass-market consumable, seemingly struggles to go any further upmarket. In established western markets at least, there’s only so large and luxurious an SUV can become before its military ancestry starts to overpower any other connotations. While this might not matter so much in new markets like China and Russia (where companies like Dartz and Marussia explicitly play up the military connection), it’s more incongruous when established luxury manufacturers try to enter this sector. Witness the lukewarm reception given to Bentley’s new EXP 9 F concept at this week’s Geneva Motor Show, a reaction mirroring the one received by the 2009 Lagonda Concept. In his book Cities Under Seige Stephen Graham, quoting Todd Gitlin, writes that the ‘SUV phenomenon is perhaps best understood as ‘the place where foreign policy meets the road.’ Whether the global super rich, in whatever percentage they are being described this week, want to be seen at the front line of this policy remains to be seen.